Overview

I grew up in an academic family, where my father was a Professor of Political Science. I switched into economics as an undergraduate. I earned a BA in Economics at the University of Maine, and a Ph.D. at the University of Colorado.

My teaching and research interests are in the History of Economic Thought and the Economics of Natural Resources. As a Christian economist I have also been interested in certain connections between economics and ethics, which focuses primarily on the works of Adam Smith, the great eighteenth century moral philosopher who is also credited with founding the modern discipline of economics. In my work I have investigated the connections between Adam Smith’s moral and economic writings particularly with reference to his theory of justice. I have also had a long-standing interest in Malthusian theories of population and the relationships between economic growth, population, and natural resource scarcity.

In addition to core courses in economics, I offer courses in the economics of natural resources and a variety of senior seminars on topics ranging from Adam Smith’s writings to Malthusian theories of population to Keynesian macroeconomics.